The US couldn’t match their haul of seven wins from the first Diamond League event of 2016 but the four they grabbed in Shanghai is nothing to snicker at. In two events the US grabbed first and third, including the 100m.  Justin Gatlin and Michael Rodgers finished first and third with Gatlin winning by a full 0.13 seconds and finishing as the only runner to get under 10 seconds. It was the same spots they finished in for the season standings last year. The other first-third finish was in the shot put where defending champion Joe Kovacs was third with Kurt Roberts finishing in first this time. The US also got a win off the track in pole vault where Sam Kendricks had a personal best 5.88m to win the event. The final US win came in the 400m hurdles where Michael Tinsley took top honors with Kerron Clement in seventh.

Other top three finishers for the US were Natasha Hastings in the 400m (third place) and defending long jump champion, Tianna Bartoletta. Bartoletta was joined by Janay Deloach (sixth) and Hastings was joined by Ashley Spencer (fifth) to give the US two of the top six in each event. Kaylin Whitney was sixth in the 200m while Jenny Simpson finished the same in the 1500m. The men’s 100m hurdles had two Americans, David Oliver and Jason Richardson finishing back-to-back in fifth and sixth. Whitney Ashley finished sixth in the discus throw while Jeff Henderson was fourth in the long jump.

The only events featuring Americans where no American finished in the top six were the men’s high jump (Jesse Williams was seventh) and the men’s 800m (Erik Sowinski was eighth). The next Diamond League event is in Rabat, Morocco on Sunday the 22nd.

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